The Caihong, or “Rainbow,” is capable of a maximum altitude of over 60,000 feet.

The uncrewed craft took part in a test flight in Northern China last week, where it set a record altitude of over 65,000 feet, higher than any other Chinese drone. (The world record for highest altitude for a remote drone is around 96,000 feet, set by the Helios Prototype in 2001.)

Following upgrades and improvements over the coming year, the CAAA team expects the Caihong will be able to stay in the air for several months or perhaps even years at a time, making the drone useful for surveillance, cartography, communications, and emerg...

It has no other parts—no flats, hinges, or control surfaces. No valves or other actuators.

While the Monospinner can’t hover like a multicopter, its asymmetrical design, providing a constant angular speed and propeller force, enables it to remain in one position. Feedback control keeps the aircraft near its equilibrium.

The drone was developed by researchers Weixuan Zhang, Mark W. Mueller, and Raffaello D’Andrea.

Yep, it’s another prosumer quadcopter – ProDrone’s Byrd. So, what’s so special about this one? Well, among other things, it combines folding propeller arms with swappable camera gimbals and a 29-minute flight time.

The Byrd is designed to fold down to a rectangular package, for easier transport and storage. Once the propellers and arms are unfolded and the thing is fired up, its 14.2V/7,000-mAh lithium battery can reportedly keep the Byrd in the air for just short of half an hour – by comparison, the DJI Phantom manages about 25 minutes.

Depending on what users want to do with the drone, its 3-axis gimbal can be replaced with one better suited to their choice of camera, or with another type of payload device. The quadcopter can lift up to 4.5 lb (2 kg).

Wrist wearable drone to capture all your favorite moments

Nixie: Prototype Drone Makes it to the Finals of Intel’s Make It Wearable Contest

Several interesting projects have emerged in response to the Intel-organized Make It Wearable contest. The contest is seeking to support the evolution of wearables and is divided into two tracks, the VISIONARY track is looking for futuristic ideas, while the DEVELOPMENT track is looking for ideas that are both innovative and realistically feasible. The contest heavily features Intel’s Edison chip and Development track submissions must be based on Intel technologies. Nixie is one of the teams that has made it through to the finals.

Nixie is the brainchild of Christoph Kohstall, a researcher in physics based at Stanford University...

For all their majestic flying skills drones are still quite fragile. Inspired to create a more robust drone, Flyability has developed a highly stable and collision proof drone that could be used as a mobile detection platform in hazardous conditions or even to save lives following natural disasters or industrial accidents.

Winner of the ‘UAE Drones For Good Award” the ‘gimbal’ drone is surrounded by a rotating cage that allows it to bounce off obstacles thereby avoiding damage to the drone.

The industrial applications of the drone are potentially huge, fitted with gas emission/chemical detectors it could be used to investigate areas of possible gas or chemical leaks, survey equipment and infrastructure in hazardous zones or sea...

Chinese scientists have developed an aquatic microrobot that mimics the water-walking abilities of the Gerridae – a family of long-legged bugs commonly known as water striders that are able to run on top of the water’s surface. The scientists say their bionic microbot incorporates improvements over previous devices that make it an ideal candidate for military spy missions, water pollution monitoring and other applications.

The robot has a body about the size of a quarter to which ten water-repellent, wire legs and two moveable, oar-like legs are attached. While the 10 long legs extending from either side of the robot’s body keep it afloat, the two shorter, centrally-located, oar-like legs powered by two miniature motors propel it across the surface of the water.

THIS AUTOSUB DRONE SCANS THE DEEP OCEANS TO IDENTIFY LIVING THINGS IN THE OCEAN DEPTS

Curious about what’s living on the deep sea floor? Well, the Autosub6000 AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is helping us find out. Led by Dr. Kirsty Morris, a team at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has equipped one of the unmanned submarines with a high-resolution photographic system. As a result, it’s claimed to be far more effective at identifying deep-sea life than the usual approach of scientific trawling.

Previously developed by NOC engineers, the Autosub6000 autonomously travels untethered along preprogrammed deep-sea routes, continuously mapping the sea floor as it does so...

A palm-sized quadrocopter which doubles as a remote control car, Parrot’s Rolling Spider might be your perfect geek toy.

The problem with remote control flying toys is that they tend to be either cheap and nasty or prohibitively expensive. At $139.99 Parrot’s Rolling Spider MiniDrone sits nicely in the middle, especially if you’ve been burned by cheap and nasty alternatives and don’t want to throw good money after bad. The catch is that you need an iOS, Android or Windows Phone 8.1 device in order to pilot the Spider.

The Spider’s body is slightly bigger than a box of matches and sits easily in the palm of your hand...

New control method enables drones to land autonomously on moving vehicles

While continual improvements are allowing larger UAVs to stay in the air for longer, the lifting capacity and endurance of smaller UAVs is largely constrained by the weight and size of their batteries. In a move that could greatly expand the reach and applications of small UAVs, a team of robotics researchers propose pairing a UAV with a ground vehicle that would provide a place of respite. However, such a vision requires autonomous coordinated docking between the two vehicles, which is exactly what the team has achieved.

Coupling a drone with an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) may prove useful in a number of scenarios...

When something is sent to you by airmail, it travels in a fast and relatively fuel-efficient fixed-wing aircraft, not a fuel-guzzling helicopter. Nonetheless, when we hear about the possibility of drones being used to deliver items within cities, multirotor-style aircraft are almost always what’s proposed – while they’re good at maneuvering in urban spaces, they’re essentially just little unmanned helicopters. With that in mind, a group of three engineering students from Belgium’s KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) have created a prototype delivery drone known as VertiKUL, which combines the best features of both types of aircraft.

Master’s students Cyriel Notteboom, Menno Hochstenbach and Maarten Verbandt designed and built VertiKUL as an assignment for their master’s thesis.

FIRE BREATHING DRONE DRAGONS IN THE AIR OFFERED FOR SALE BY GERMAN TECH COMPANY

Hammacher Schlemmer is offering a remote-controlled, jet-powered dragon that soars through the air at up to 70 mph and belches propane-powered flame when on the ground. The dragon’s LED eyes can be commanded to glow red while it emits a fiery 3′ blast of flame from a cleverly concealed (and flight-disabled) propane tank and igniter built into its toothy maw. A miniature turbine engine built into the chest provides thrust that exits the rear at 500 mph, and uses 1/2 gallon of jet aircraft fuel or kerosene for 10 minute flights. With a head that swivels in the direction of turns, the dragon can climb and dive via wing ailerons and elevators built into its V-tail rudder, controlled with the 2.4GHz radio remote...